Cocaine Concentration in Sharks in Brazil Poses Risk to Already Threatened Species
Effects of the drug on animals are still not well understood; impact on humans consuming shark meat cannot be ruled out
The detection of significant levels of cocaine in the bodies of small sharks off the coast of Rio de Janeiro shows how substances frequently used by humans are increasingly being absorbed by aquatic fauna. While the effects of this type of pollution on fish are not yet well known, it represents a new risk to species already highly threatened by other factors.
Furthermore, the possibility of problems for those consuming the meat of these animals, sold as the popular "cação," cannot be ruled out. The research revealing the presence of the drug in the Brazilian sharpnose shark (Rhizoprionodon lalandii), also known as "cação-frango," was conducted by specialists from the Environmental Health Assessment and Promotion Laboratory at the Oswaldo Cruz Institute (IOC).
"In Brazil, studies have already detected contamination of water and a few aquatic organisms, such as mussels, by cocaine. Our analysis is the first to find the substance in sharks," stated pharmacologist Enrico Mendes Saggioro from the IOC in a statement.
Along with biologist Rachel Ann Hauser-Davis, he is one of the coordinators of the research recently published in the journal Science of the Total Environment. The team obtained 13 sharks of the species, which measure 80 cm when fully grown, from artisanal fishermen in the Recreio dos Bandeirantes region (west zone of Rio).